Arena Stage Announces Additional Season Casting; Edward Gero, Edwin Lee Gibson, and More

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater announces artistic updates, including select cast members for upcoming productions, as part of the company's 2018/19 programming.

The D.C.-area debut of Turn Me Loose, a powerful, political and highly-acclaimed play by Gretchen Law will feature Obie Award-winner and former stand-up comedian Edwin Lee Gibson as comedian-activist Dick Gregory. Gibson's over 90 professional theater credits include Off-Broadway's Battlefield by Peter Brook, Love and Information by Caryl Churchill and The Seven. Turn Me Loose, directed by John Gould Rubin, will run September 6-October 14, 2018 in the Kreeger Theater.

Jackson Gay will direct the world-premiere political drama Kleptocracy, which explores the power of corruption through Russian Oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky and the rise of Vladimir Putin. Gay's recent directing credits include Off-Broadway's Stuffed and Transfers, La Jolla Playhouse's Kill Local and California Shakespeare Theater's Much Ado About Nothing adapted by Kenneth Lin. Written by Kenneth Lin, Kleptocracy runs January 18-February 24, 2019 in the Kreeger Theater.

Edward Gero, currently reprising his role as Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in The Originalist off-Broadway at 59E59 Theaters, will join the company of Ayad Akhtar's Wall Street drama Junk to play Thomas Everson, Jr. Gero has been seen at Arena Stage in The Pajama Game, The Little Foxes, Red and The Originalist. Junk, directed by Jackie Maxwell, will run April 5-May 5, 2019 on the Fichandler Stage.

Single tickets for Arena Stage's 2018/19 productions will go on sale on July 31. To purchase, visit arenastage.org or call 202-488-3300.

Additional casting will be announced at a later date.

Jackson Gay (Director) is a founding member of New Neighborhood and the Director of Artistic Programming for Fuller Road Artist Residency. Her latest projects include Lisa Lampanelli's Stuffed (Off-Broadway); Mat Smart's Kill Local (La Jolla); Transfers by Lucy Thurber (MCC Theater); and the world-premiere of Suzanne Vega's Lover, Beloved, An Evening with Carson McCullers with music by Vega and Duncan Sheik (Alley Theatre). Recent projects include Lucy Thurber's Transfers (New York Stage & Film); Much Ado About Nothing adapted with Kenneth Lin (California Shakespeare Theater); Jen Silverman's The Moors (Yale Repertory); These Paper Bullets!, Rolin Jones' adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing with music by Billie Joe Armstrong (Atlantic Theater, Geffen Playhouse and Yale Repertory); Lucy Thurber's The Insurgents (Labyrinth); David Adjmi's 3C (Rattlestick); and Rolin Jones' The Jammer (Atlantic Theater); and The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow (Atlantic Theater and Yale Repertory). Ms. Gay has taught directing and acting at Columbia, Yale, ESPA, Sarah Lawrence and Fordham. She holds her BFA from University of the Arts and MFA from Yale School of Drama.

Edward Gero (Thomas Everson, Jr) is a four-time Helen Hayes Award winner and 15-time nominee. Regional credits include The Pajama Game, The Little Foxes and Red (Arena Stage); The Originalist (Off-Broadway's 59E59 Theaters, Arena Stage, Asolo Repertory, Pasadena Playhouse, Court Theatre); Red and Gloucester in King Lear (Goodman); Nixon's Nixon and Night Alive (Round House); Sweeney Todd (Signature Theatre); Scrooge in A Christmas Carol (Ford's Theatre); and American Buffalo, Shining City and Skylight (Studio Theatre). In 32 seasons with Shakespeare Theatre Company, his over 70 roles include Helen Hayes turns in Henry IV, Richard II and Macbeth. Film/TV credits include House of Cards, TURN: Washington's Spies, Die Hard 2, Striking Distance and narrations for Discovery Channel and PBS. He is a Ten Chimneys 2015 Lunt-Fontanne Fellow and associate professor of theater at George Mason University.

Edwin Lee Gibson (Dick Gregory) recently returned from nine months working with famed director Peter Brook (National Theatre Studio, London and Theatre Des Bouffes du Nord, Paris). Off-Broadway credits include Battlefield by Peter Brook (2017/18 international tour); Love and Information by Caryl Churchill (U.S. premiere, Minetta Lane Theatre/NYTW); The Seven (NYTW); The Diary of Black Men (Fairfield Halls, London); Five 'Til (Dixon Place Theatre); Beyond Caring (U.S. premiere, Lookingglass Theatre); The Death of Bessie Smith (New Brooklyn Theatre); and The Seven. TV credits include Law and Order: SVU and Shameless. Film credits include Marshall, Mom and Dad and Blood First. Stage writing credits include Five 'Til, Knucklehead and pla-ce-bo; screen writing credits include Nicodemus, Arrivée, Like Family, and the feature film, A New Normal. He is an Obie Award winner for Outstanding Performance.

Kleptocracy is generously sponsored by Decker Anstrom and Sherry Hiemstra.

Junk is generously sponsored by Joan and David Maxwell.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater, under the leadership of Artistic Director Molly Smith and Executive Producer Edgar Dobie, is a national center dedicated to American voices and artists. Arena Stage produces plays of all that is passionate, profound, deep and dangerous in the American spirit, and presents diverse and ground-breaking work from some of the best artists around the country. Arena Stage is committed to commissioning and developing new plays, and impacts the lives of over 10,000 students annually through its work in community engagement. Now in its seventh decade, Arena Stage serves a diverse annual audience of more than 300,000. arenastage.org

Photo Credit: Cameron Whitman